<h2>POLAND</h2>
Question: <em>What were the living conditions in Poland during the Communist Era like?</em>
Answer:
That's a vast span of time, and the most usual way to split it is into decades. Housing shortages have often been an issue for us (even today affordable housing is problematic).
40's - It is apparent that the country suffered severe human and material damage. The Holocaust was particularly terrible because it targeted Jews as well as Polish elites who were viewed as threats (Whose were best educated group in pre-war Poland). Because of the acute housing crisis, the government sometimes partitioned big flats into a number of smaller ones. The development produced very typical units with shared restrooms because some of those flats were extremely spacious and had numerous rooms. However, nobody seemed to mind because communism certainly had no intention of carrying out a genocide and Poles were in power. Despite being autonomous, we were under Soviet Union's control (this leash was somewhat flexible though). Land reform at the time resolved the enormous problem of "Land Hunger," which existed in pre-war Poland. Even if there were no communists, the post-war administration would nonetheless implement land reform (Polish Underground State planned to do it)
50's - Redevelopment initiatives and the continuance of communist ideological programs to eradicate illiteracy, provide universal health care (which was poor and difficult but better than the majority of the population had none previously), and improve infrastructure (electrification). The first significant strikes had just occurred (like many economical grounds was the cause). A few indications of the communist economic model's drawbacks, such as a variety of shortages, began to appear. For the majority of individuals who are familiar with pre-war times, especially farmers, the situation actually became better as they began to have more money, were able to make purchases, and were able to engage in the economy. Superheterodynes were no longer considered to be a luxury good and the majority of Poles began to utilize thermionic valve radio receivers instead of crystal sets throughout this decade. The invention of television was a costly commodity but a crucial indicator of progress in general.
60's - The majority of people really had money because of shortages, yet despite television becoming more and more widespread, it was still a costly good. New housing construction helped alleviate the housing crisis (I live in apartment block build in this era). Still, it wasn't sufficient.
70's - It was a rather prosperous decade. mostly as a result of substantial loans from western nations. The funds were intended to be utilized to develop an industry. The problem is that because it wasn't done correctly, even while the economy as a whole experienced an increase in affluence, we were unable to earn sufficient income to repay them. No surprise the next decade was bad. While pricey, color television started to become more and more popular.
80's - In this decade, the unrealistic model we used's economic issues became most obvious. Massive shortages started to become the norm, and they started to threaten the communist leadership. Politics didn't generally pique people's interest, but when there were shortages, everyone was impacted, which fueled the Solidarity movement. The United States had placed an economic embargo on us, and the Soviet Union, which was waning, was unable to offer us the necessary economic assistance. We used inexpensive Soviet resources (this was the leash). At that time, we began trading with China, which gave us agricultural products (mainly meat) in exchange for manufactured commodities used in industry. It wasn't harsh enough, and the economy caused the communist regime to wane. It wasn't a total catastrophe like those in Venezuela, and there were some advancements as computers began to arrive in Poland (8-bit machines usually). Even Nevertheless, the communist leadership fought to maintain its hold on power because they were obviously scared of what would happen to them if they abandoned it. They made a few last-ditch attempts before realizing that economically, we are done. However, it was too late. Since we were interested in punishing only those who were extremely infamous (and their deeds were genuinely unlawful to begin with even under the law at that time) and desired no retaliation, the agreements with Solidarity secured a smooth transfer to power. It goes without saying that this enabled us to convert to a more accurate economic model. In general, living circumstances were better than they had been before the war for the bulk of the people (running water, electricity, literacy, healthcare, free education on all levels).
